The Belarusian authorities must ensure the right to peaceful protest forpolitical opponents and human rights activists, Amnesty international saidtoday, in the context of anti-government demonstrations planned fortomorrow, the 10th anniversary of Alyaksandr Lukashenko's presidency.

"There should be no repeat of the ugly scenes of police brutality andarbitrary arrest witnessed during past demonstrations," AmnestyInternational urged.

In the past large scale protest actions have met with a repressiveresponse from the Belarusian authorities and have resulted in waves ofarrests. Amnesty International has repeatedly expressed its concern aboutthe Belarusian authorities' disregard for human rights, including theharassment and intimidation of non-governmental organizations and tradeunions, the stifling of freedom of expression and association, and"disappearances" of opposition politicians and a cameraman.

"The Belarusian authorities continually demonstrate their lack oftolerance for dissent."

"Anyone detained for their peaceful protests will be considered tobe a prisoner of conscience", Amnesty International said as theorganization is preparing to monitor closely the demonstration on 21 July.

The Belarusian authorities are obliged under Articles 19 and 21 ofthe International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to guaranteecitizens the right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. This isparticularly important in the run-up to the parliamentary elections on 17October when those engaged in civil society, and in particular members ofopposition, should be allowed to express their views openly .

BackgroundIn March 2004, Amnesty International called on the authorities to end thepractice of detaining people solely for the peaceful exercise of theirfundamental rights to freedom of expression and association. In April 2002,85 peaceful demonstrators were detained and more than 30 were sentenced toperiods of imprisonment of between three and 15 days. Opposition activistsare continually harassed and according to Zubr, a non-registered youthorganization for democracy and human rights, in the period between January2001 and December 2003 more than a thousand incidences of such harassmentoccurred during peaceful public actions. This year already AmnestyInternational has taken up two cases of activists who have been arrestedfor the peaceful expression of their views.

In April 2004, the UN Commission on Human Rights criticized Belarusfor continued reports of arbitrary arrest and detention and for theharassment of non-governmental organizations, opposition political partiesand those engaged in democratic activities. It has called on Belarus tobring the actions of its police and security forces into conformity withits obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and PoliticalRights.

In May 2004, the Council of Europe rejected an application fromBelarus to renew its special status with the organization which had beensuspended when President Lukashenko dissolved the parliament in 1997.